Donny McCaslin Releases Beyond Now, Featuring Tim Lefebvre

The team of Donny McCaslin, Mark Guiliana, Jason Lindner and Tim Lefebvre is a force to be reckoned with. Their musical prowess and ability to seamlessly morph grooves is so strong that David Bowie chose them to be the band for his final album, Blackstar. Now McCaslin and crew have released Beyond Now, an album dedicated to and inspired by the late pop megastar.

“It was like a dream except it was something I never could have dreamed of,” the saxophonist said of working on Blackstar. “David Bowie was a visionary artist whose generosity, creative spirit, and fearlessness will stay with me the rest of my days. Beyond Now is dedicated to him and to all who loved him.”

In addition to five McCaslin compositions, the album includes two Bowie covers (“A Small Plot of Land” and “Warszawa”), a Deadmau5 cover (“Coelacanth 1”), and a Mutemath cover (Remain). Each song blurs the lines between jazz, rock, and electronica for a fulfilling listen.

Lefebvre’s bass lines follow suit as he deftly navigates the changing textures, all while responding and supporting the melody. He begins the title track with a pensive ostinato part to set up a medium groove, but unleashes a distorted, barking bass line on “Faceplant”.